On June 12, 2026, Rwanda's Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Emmanuel Ugirashebuja, told the United Nations Security Council that Rwanda is ready to receive the ICTR (International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda) judicial archives and take custody of all persons convicted, acquitted, or released by the tribunal — including those who have been cleared of all charges.

Minister Ugirashebuja's statement is recorded in the UN's official meeting coverage (SC/16384, June, 12, 2026) and in the webcast of the 10170th meeting.

Apart from the representative of the United States, no other Security Council member commented on Rwanda’s application. The Council's resolution is expected to be adopted next week, on June 25.

Stand For Our Parents (SFOP) — the association representing the families of persons acquitted, released, or detained by the ICTR/IRMCT (International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals) — urges every Security Council member to reject Rwanda’s application in its entirety.

Acquitted by the UN's Own Court — Yet Claimed by a Party to the Conflict

Rwanda’s application concerns acquitted persons who were found not guilty by the UN ad hoc tribunal, as well as released persons currently housed in a UN safe house in Niger without legal status since December 2021. Three of them have died while waiting for a durable solution. Rwanda also requests the transfer of UN detainees serving their sentences in Senegal and Benin. In addition, the UN has informed those residing in the safe house in Niger that financial support will end on December 31, 2026.

Rwanda’s request appears to seek a de facto extension of judicial control over acquitted and released persons. SFOP rejects this unlawful claim. These individuals owe no further obligation to any court, and transferring them to the very state that prosecuted them would violate the principle of ne bis in idem (double jeopardy) — a principle that several Security Council members reaffirmed during the June 12 debate.

It is well known that Rwanda applies the "genocide ideology" law, which was not part of the ICTR Statute. SFOP fears that Rwanda’s strategy is to prosecute these individuals under new charges related to it once they are transferred to Rwanda.

These concerns are not theoretical. In November 2023, the UK Supreme Court found that Rwanda was not a safe country for the transfer of asylum seekers, citing a real risk of refoulement. The removal scheme was subsequently abandoned. A legal memorandum prepared by the families, an open letter signed by international defense lawyers, and reports from several human rights organizations are on record with the UN Secretary-General and explain why diplomatic assurances do not eliminate that risk.

"We are not asking the Council to revisit any verdict," said Jean De Dieu Nsanzabandi, spokesperson for SFOP. "We are asking one question: will our parents be safe in Rwanda? Rwanda’s own request — to take custody of people it accused and who were subsequently acquitted — answers that question."

Archives That Could Endanger the Witnesses Who Helped Build Them

Regarding the ICTR archives, SFOP strongly rejects Minister Ugirashebuja’s request to transfer them to Rwanda. SFOP fully supports Tanzania’s position, which offers a cost-free solution since the necessary infrastructure already exists in Arusha, where the ICTR was established.

Records of international justice should not be placed in the custody of a party to the conflict, in order to preserve the independence and impartiality of the institution. Furthermore, these archives contain records relating to thousands of defense witnesses who continue to reside in Rwanda. Transferring such records to Rwanda would undermine the protective measures ordered by the Tribunal and could place those witnesses at risk.

SFOP Calls on the Security Council to:

• Refuse the transfer of the ICTR archives to Rwanda and preserve them in neutral custody
• Refuse the transfer of any acquitted, released, or detained person to Rwanda
• Resolve without delay the situation of those stranded in Niger by securing a durable solution
• Ensure a durable solution consistent with international law and hear the concerns of the families

Spokespersons and family members are available for interviews. The press release, legal memorandum, and supporting documents, including the thirteen Defence Counsel of Record's open letter (May 26, 2026) and the families' 35-page legal memorandum (May 27, 2026), are available at are available at standforourparents.org/press.

About Stand For Our Parents

Stand For Our Parents (SFOP) is an association in formation under Belgian law which gather families, relatives and friends of ICTR / IRMCT acquitted, released and detainees persons. SFOP urges people, organisations, countries, and every Security Council member to oppose Rwanda’s application in its entirety. For more information, visit www.standforourparents.org.

Media Contact

Jean De Dieu Nsanzabandi
Spokesperson, Stand For Our Parents (SFOP)
jean.nsanzabandi@standforourparents.org
+32 471 90 44 88

Asking a fútbol-loving CMO to sit through another meeting during the World Cup is a little like asking them to go to the dentist during a penalty shootout. Technically possible. Deeply unreasonable.

Today, independent creative agency LERMA/ announces the launch of Invite LERMA/, an AI-powered experience that turns a traditional 90-minute agency credentials meeting into something marketers may actually want on their calendar during the World Cup: live match commentary.

Here’s how it works: marketers book a 90-minute Invite LERMA/ meeting during a World Cup match. When the call begins, Taylor AI joins — not to pitch the agency, but to narrate the game live in English or Spanish.

Your calendar gets a meeting.

You get the match.

That’s what LERMA/ calls a win-win. Unless it’s a draw. But you get the point.

Taylor AI is an AI version of Taylor Smiley, LERMA/’s Chief Growth Officer, built to call the match, react to key moments, share stats, and keep fans plugged into the action in real time.

Guests can follow the game, react to big moments, and invite fellow soccer fans to join the call — all inside what looks like a perfectly ordinary business meeting.

“Our creative teams had a brilliant realization,” said Taylor Smiley, Chief Growth Officer at LERMA/. “Nobody wants another meeting during the World Cup. So instead of asking people to ignore the match, we created a meeting that helps them enjoy it.”

The idea was inspired by a simple truth: meetings happen every day. The World Cup only happens every four years.

And if participants do want to talk business, they can privately message Taylor AI to schedule an actual credentials meeting once the tournament concludes.

The initiative reflects LERMA/'s broader belief that attention is earned by understanding culture, not interrupting it.

“The idea started with a simple question: what if a business meeting gave people something they actually wanted during the World Cup?” said Paco Conde, Chief Creative Officer at LERMA/. “We took one of the most familiar agency rituals and reimagined it as an experience built around a cultural moment millions of people are already invested in. That's the kind of ambition that drives us — not just finding new ways to tell our story, but creating ideas that connect with people in more meaningful and relevant ways.”

Invite LERMA/ launched on June 17 and will be available throughout the 2026 World Cup, and it’s designed specifically for senior marketing leaders, brand decision-makers, and anyone who would rather watch soccer than sit through another agency deck.

About LERMA/

LERMA/ is a fearlessly independent, full-service creative agency based in Dallas. We believe extraordinary things start with extraordinary ambition, helping brands break through indifference by asking one simple question: “Why will people care?” Through strategy, creativity, media, production, analytics, and cultural insight, LERMA/ creates ideas that connect with people, drive growth, and deliver meaningful business impact. For more information, visit lermaagency.com.

Media Contact

Emma Swanson
Toni Lee Communications
emma@tonileepr.com
+1 716-225-1186

Geely Auto Group continued its momentum in international touring car racing as the Geely Cyan Racing delivered a commanding weekend at the Valencia round of the 2026 Kumho FIA TCR World Tour. Following its breakthrough victory at Misano, Geely Preface TCR extended its winning streak to four races with Santiago Urrutia sweeping all three races at Circuit Ricardo Tormo.

Geely Cyan Racing established its strong pace from qualifying and locked out the top three for opening race. Urrutia converted that pace into a clean sweep across the weekend, beginning by turning the team’s starting advantage into a victory in Race 1. In Race 2, he charged from eighth on the reverse grid to secure his second win, his teammates Ma Qinghua and Thed Björk added points for the team, finishing fourth and sixth respectively.

In Race 3, Urrutia sealed a clean sweep by setting the fastest lap and leading every lap to achieve the Grand Slam, which made him the first driver to accomplish the "Perfect Weekend." Björk added two podium finishes and helped Geely Cyan Racing secure back-to-back 1-2 finishes, further demonstrating the team’s race execution and the car’s consistency under demanding conditions of tight circuit with high track temperatures.

Following this conquering showcase, Geely Cyan Racing leads the team standings with 277 points, 54 points ahead of its nearest competitor. Urrutia leads the drivers’ standings with 140 points, while Björk follows in second with 120 points.

Four victories from the first five races underline the pace, reliability and development potential of the Geely Preface TCR. As the campaign continues, Geely Auto Group will keep utilizing international motorsport as a platform to advance technical upgrade, strengthen global collaboration across its racing programme, and demonstrate the competitiveness of the brand in international touring car racing.

About Geely Auto Group

Geely Auto Group is a leading global automotive company headquartered in Hangzhou, China. Part of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, Geely Auto Group develops and manufactures passenger vehicles under the Geely, Lynk & Co, and Zeekr brands. Geely Auto achieved cumulative sales of 3,024,567 units in 2025, exceeding the full-year sales target with a year-on-year growth of 39%. New energy vehicle (NEV) sales reached 1,687,767 units, a year-on-year increase of 90%. With a strong focus on technology innovation, electrification, and sustainable mobility, Geely Auto Group operates world-class R&D centers and manufacturing facilities across China, Europe, and key international markets. The Group is committed to delivering safe, high-quality, and intelligent vehicles enabled by advanced technologies such as hybrid powertrains, full-electric architectures, smart connectivity, and autonomous driving systems. As a global company, Geely Auto Group continues to expand its international presence through strategic partnerships, localized operations, and industry-leading platforms. Geely strives to create mobility solutions that are greener, smarter, and more accessible, driving forward the future of sustainable transportation. For more information, visit global.geely.com.

Media Contact

Cathy Peng
media@geely.com

Andreozzi + Foote has filed a civil lawsuit in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County (Case No. C-03-CV-26-002798) on behalf of an individual against Central Christian Assembly, Inc. and former youth pastor Thomas G. Pinkerton Jr. in connection with alleged conduct that occurred between 2006 and 2010.

According to the complaint, the plaintiff was a minor and a participant in the church's youth program during the period at issue.

The filing follows related criminal proceedings involving Pinkerton. Court records show that on June 8, 2026, Pinkerton pleaded guilty in Baltimore County Circuit Court to one count of Sexual Abuse of a Minor (Case No. C-03-CR-25-003405). Sentencing is currently scheduled for Dec. 14, 2026.

The civil lawsuit asserts claims against Central Christian Assembly, including negligent hiring, retention, and supervision, as well as negligence-related claims. The complaint also asserts claims against Pinkerton for battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

The lawsuit was filed pursuant to Maryland's Child Victims Act, which permits individuals alleging childhood sexual abuse to pursue civil claims regardless of when the alleged conduct occurred.

The case is pending. The allegations contained in the complaint have not been adjudicated in the civil proceeding.

Public Records and Case Access

Public dockets, upcoming hearings, and verified criminal court records related to the defendant can be tracked directly through the Maryland Judiciary Case Search Portal for Case No. C-03-CR-25-003405. Copies of the newly filed civil complaint (Case No. C-03-CV-26-002798) are available upon request through the media contact listed below.

About Andreozzi + Foote

Andreozzi + Foote is one of the nation’s leading sexual abuse law firms with a history of representing survivors in cases against large and powerful organizations, including Penn State University, the Boy Scouts of America, and the Catholic Church. The trauma-informed Pennsylvania-based sexual abuse lawyers at Andreozzi + Foote are committed to obtaining life-changing results for victims and their families. For more information, visit www.victimscivilattorneys.com.

Media Contact

Maria Smith
Andreozzi + Foote
marias@vca.law
+1 717-807-5808

Today, Barometer, the AI-powered brand suitability and contextual targeting engine, announced a partnership with Spotify to bring episode-level brand suitability analysis and contextual targeting to programmatic podcast ads at a global scale. These capabilities are available for advertisers buying through the Spotify Ad Exchange on The Trade Desk.

By unlocking Spotify's podcast inventory within The Trade Desk, this partnership gives advertisers unprecedented access to safely scale their campaigns. This expansion of available inventory means buyers can now target and monitor their programmatic audio investments with the confidence of Barometer’s independent third-party verification across Spotify's high-quality podcast content.

Through this new integration, Barometer’s AI engine analyzes every podcast episode on Spotify Ad Exchange before it is released. This pre-release analysis generates rich, episode-level data that advertisers can use for highly precise pre-bid targeting. 

This solution effectively eliminates the guesswork from podcast advertising. By combining Barometer's buy-side, self-service controls with Spotify's high-quality podcast inventory, and The Trade Desk's demand-side platform, advertisers can better mitigate brand safety concerns and scale their podcast investments with the same precision they expect from mature digital video and display channels.

"This new partnership between Barometer, Spotify, and The Trade Desk marks a true paradigm shift for the audio industry,” said Dr. Tamara Zubatiy Nelson, CEO at Barometer. "We are moving the industry past the era of broad genre targeting and post-campaign guesswork. By analyzing Spotify’s podcast inventory prior to release, we are empowering advertisers to proactively target and tailor ad campaigns with true episode-level precision. We're thrilled to collaborate with Spotify and The Trade Desk to deliver this unprecedented level of transparency and control."

The solution is officially live and available for programmatic activation today. Advertisers looking to elevate their audio strategies and activate episode-level targeting with the Spotify Ad Exchange via The Trade Desk can learn more by visiting app.thebarometer.co/spotify.

About Barometer

Barometer is the premier, third-party, AI-powered contextual engine with best-in-class brand suitability and contextual targeting solutions for premium and emerging media channels. They help the largest brands in the world responsibly activate at scale in impactful channels like podcasts, creator-led video, and generative AI. For more information, visit app.thebarometer.co.

Media Contact

Ella Reznick
Barometer
ella@thebarometer.co

CHEQ, the leading identity, security, and intelligence platform for the open web, today announced it has been named a Strong Performer in The Forrester Wave™: Bot And Agent Trust Management Software, Q2 2026. CHEQ was the only vendor among the eight evaluated to receive the highest possible score in the Marketing and e-commerce integrations criterion, and one of only two vendors to receive the top score in the Roadmap criterion.

Since 2019, CHEQ has helped the world's largest companies solve a problem most security solutions weren't built for: protecting the full customer journey, end to end, across the e-commerce and marketing tools brands depend on. CHEQ believes the Bot & Agent Trust Management Wave validates this approach. 

Forrester frames the buying decision around the full customer journey, noting that bot and agent traffic "affects a range of security and business stakeholders" and that prospective buyers must "consider how bots, agents, and human customers engage throughout the customer journey and seek use-case-specific features and rich integrations with relevant identity, e-commerce, and marketing tools." 

Forrester named CHEQ "a strong choice for organizations that value high-touch customer support and need a solution for both security- and business-focused stakeholders," adding that CHEQ "stands out with a broad roadmap around detection, trust, and a range of features to enhance customer experience." Forrester also named CHEQ's Gold-level partnership with Adobe as a highlight of its partnership program.

The report's customer feedback states that customers "praise CHEQ's value, noting that the product pays for itself…”

The recognition marks CHEQ's first appearance in a Forrester Wave™, in a decades-old category Forrester has recently redefined to reflect what brands now need: not just defense against bots, but trust and control across every entity. As AI agents increasingly act on behalf of real people (shopping, signing up, and transacting), the old question of "good bot or bad bot" no longer fits. The new category centers on a different question: how much can a brand trust the human, bot, or AI agent in front of it, and what should happen next.

Inclusion in the evaluation is itself selective. Per the report's published criteria, Forrester evaluated only vendors with broad, enterprise-level support, substantial revenue in the bot and agent trust management market, and mindshare among Forrester's enterprise clients.

"The Bot and Agent Trust Management Wave is a milestone for the entire market. Forrester has formalized a category the industry has been moving toward for years," said Guy Tytunovich, Founder and CEO of CHEQ. "Every brand is about to meet a flood of traffic that is neither human nor simple automation. We believe the companies that win the agentic web will be the ones that can deliver trust, intent, and control across every entity: human, bot, or AI agent. CHEQ has been building for this moment since before it had a name, and we are focused on where the category goes from here."

CHEQ believes its recognition reflects an approach built for this shift. The CHEQ platform combines the world's largest independent identity graph for fraud and trust, observing 6 billion authenticated user activities daily across 3 million websites and apps, with non-human detection across the entire customer journey. That foundation lets brands evaluate every visitor in real time and decide, in milliseconds, whether to allow, monitor, challenge, or block.

"For the marketers, e-commerce teams, and growth leaders who own the customer journey, we believe the report tells a simple story," Tytunovich added. "CHEQ received a 5/5 in Marketing analytics assurance, a 5/5 in Marketing and e-commerce integrations, and a 5/5 in Roadmap. Those are the criteria that matter when your job is protecting revenue, analytics, and the customer experience from rogue AI agents. That's exactly what CHEQ was built for."

Forrester does not endorse any company, product, brand, or service included in its research publications and does not advise any person to select the products or services of any company or brand based on the ratings included in such publications. Information is based on the best available resources. Opinions reflect judgment at the time and are subject to change. This report is part of a broader collection of Forrester resources, including interactive models, frameworks, tools, data, and access to analyst guidance. For more information, read about Forrester’s objectivity here.

About CHEQ

CHEQ is the leading identity, security, and intelligence platform for the open web, trusted by the world's leading brands across industries including cybersecurity, financial services, retail and ecommerce, and technology. More than 15,000 companies, from the Fortune 50 to industry innovators, rely on CHEQ to secure their websites, protect their marketing investments, and govern who interacts with their digital experiences. CHEQ's platform combines the industry's only triple-layer traffic, trust, and identity intelligence engine with the world's largest independent identity graph for fraud and trust. Founded in 2016, CHEQ is a global organization with offices in New York, London, Tokyo, and Tel Aviv. For more information, visit cheq.ai.

Media Contact

Lorie Acio
lorie@aciostrategies.com

Regulated broker AvaTrade has received 19 global and regional industry awards for 2025, recognizing the company’s multi-asset trading technology, mobile platform experience, educational programming for traders, customer service, and risk management tools. The awards illustrate AvaTrade’s continued investment in developing a regulated trading infrastructure and represent an important milestone in the company’s efforts. Today, AvaTrade is regulated across 10 jurisdictions, with a global corporate presence.

Global Awards and Recognitions

Selecting a broker to handle your stocks, crypto trades, commodities, or foreign exchange is a non-trivial decision for any trader. It requires knowing more than just what platform the broker offers. It requires trust that your funds will be protected, your trades will be carried out with speed and reliability, and that you will have the customer support you need.

That’s why AvaTrade’s 2025 awards speak to the way this broker has been able to position itself within a crowded industry and deliver a high standard of service to its clients. AvaTrade was recognized as Most Trusted Broker by International Investors Magazine, as Best Regulated Trading App by FX Empire, and for Best Customer Service Global by World Business Achievers, all speaking to the broker’s reliability, credibility, and alacrity in serving its traders. Its ability to support multi-asset trading seamlessly was acknowledged by the World Business Outlook Awards with Best Multi-Asset Trading Platform Global 2025. World Business Stars Magazine presented AvaTrade with Best Futures Trading Broker, honoring AvaTrade for providing the dependable execution and stable infrastructure needed in the high-risk futures market.

Other global awards included:

• Outstanding Affiliate Program (International Investors Magazine)
• Best Affiliate Program (Global Business and Finance Magazine)
• Number 1 Risk Management Tool (ForexBrokers.com)
• Number 1 Interactive Educational Experience (ForexBrokers.com)
• Most Innovative Global Trading Platform 2025 (Wealth and Finance International Investment)
• Best iOS Trading App (FX Empire)
• Best Software for Day Trading (FX Empire)

Besides reliable software and high-standard customer service, AvaTrade has been able to provide its traders with a regulated mobile trading app, risk management tools, and educational resources with interactive learning so that traders can understand and manage their risk and trade more effectively.

Recognition Across Multiple Markets

AvaTrade also received regional awards in many major markets, showing how the broker has been able to provide local customer service, trader education, and software in many regions:

• Best Customer Service in Europe (World Economic Magazine)
• Best Stock CFD Broker in Europe (FX Empire)
• Best Affiliate Program (Forex Expo Dubai)
• Most Trusted Trading Platform Latam 2025 (Finance Derivative Magazine)
• Best Online Trading Platform Latam (Global Business Review Magazine)
• Best Online Trading Platform South Africa (Global Business Magazine)
• Best Mobile Trading Experience UAE (International Business Magazine)

In fast and complex markets where conditions can change swiftly, stability matters. So does trader education and customer service. AvaTrade has been recognized on all of these fronts, building a reputation for helping traders access a multi-asset trading platform and app designed for reliability, get support quickly when they need it, and access interactive learning tools that could help them make smarter decisions.

About AvaTrade

Founded in 2006, AvaTrade has grown into a leading regulated global broker, with a consistent quality focus that has been recognized with over 100 industry awards. The company’s vision is to empower every trader to trade with confidence in any region at any time, with access to a diversity of financial instruments and markets. Clients can trade a wide range of instruments, including stocks, commodities, indices, cryptocurrencies, and foreign exchange (Forex), within a structured, risk-aware environment. AvaTrade seeks to support trader confidence by offering secure access, intuitive platforms, and global market opportunities for traders at every stage. For more information, visit www.avatrade.com.

Disclaimer

Trading in financial instruments, including CFDs, forex, stocks, commodities, futures, and cryptocurrencies, involves significant risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Awards and recognitions referenced in this release are granted by independent third-party organizations based on their own methodologies and criteria and should not be construed as an endorsement, guarantee of future performance, or recommendation to trade. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Individuals should carefully consider their investment objectives, level of experience, and risk tolerance before engaging in trading activities and seek independent financial advice where appropriate.

Strategix has introduced its Company Advancement Model, a new approach that brings together reputation management, PR, marketing, and branding into a unified system for business growth.

Audiences no longer perceive brands in fragments — people engage with companies simultaneously through social media, press coverage, websites, advertising, and offline touchpoints, and they quickly notice any discrepancies in messaging, visual identity, or positioning.

The introduction of the Company Advancement Model reflects changing consumer expectations around brand consistency and trust across multiple communication channels. 

"We built Strategix to connect reputation-driven PR, marketing, and branding into a single strategic process. Our goal is not just to make brands visible, but to make them recognizable, trusted, and commercially stronger," said Strategix CEO Liubov Krasnoslobodtseva.

Strategix supports this process end-to-end from positioning and media presence to communication strategy and brand scaling across international markets.

To view the projects completed by Strategix, visit strategix-pr.com/en/#our-projects

About Strategix

Strategix is an international strategic communications agency that helps companies, entrepreneurs, experts, and personal brands build their reputation and scale across international markets — including the US, UK, UAE, Germany, Spain, Greece, Georgia, and beyond. The agency offers services across reputation strategy, marketing strategy, AI marketing, PR and media relations, branding, brand platform development, visual identity, brand positioning, advertising campaigns, content production, event communications, digital analytics, and market-entry communications. The Strategix team works with both high-growth businesses and established companies. Our specialists and leadership bring more than six years of experience in PR, marketing, and communications, with over 150 completed cases spanning technology startups, B2B services, industrial projects, and international brands. For more information, visit strategix-pr.com/en.

Media Contact

Strategix Team
strategixpr@gmail.com
+49 175 6201738

Amid the global transition toward green and low-carbon development, competition in international markets is becoming increasingly intense. Chinese brands are leveraging technological innovation to write a new chapter in their global expansion. Among them, Shouxin Advanced Polymer Sciences Co., Ltd., formerly Guangdong Shouxin Environmental Protection Materials Technology Co., Ltd. ("Shouxin"), a high-tech enterprise based in Dongguan, Guangdong Province, has emerged as a notable example. Through its independently developed polyacrylamide products, the company successfully replaced a leading German chemical brand and became a core supplier to a renowned paper manufacturer in Southeast Asia, demonstrating how Chinese innovation is breaking long-standing international monopolies.

The story began with a persistent challenge faced by the Southeast Asian paper producer: high operating costs and unsatisfactory treatment performance. For more than two decades, the company had relied on European and American brands for its flocculants. However, the high concentration of organic pollutants and significant pH fluctuations in its wastewater made treatment particularly demanding. To address the issue, Shouxin assembled a dedicated technical team that worked on-site for two weeks. Leveraging its proprietary large-scale product selection technology, the team conducted operational-condition simulations and multiple rounds of comparative data analysis before developing a customized solution tailored to the client’s complex application environment.

The performance efficiency of Shouxin’s product reached 91%, significantly outperforming the German competitor’s 74%. At the same time, sludge dewatering costs were reduced by 35%, generating annual savings of more than $2 million for the paper manufacturer.

“Chinese technology has not only solved the long-standing problem of unstable flocculation performance, but has also improved the return on our environmental investments by nearly 30%,” said a representative of the Southeast Asian paper company during the project acceptance process. After more than 20 years of cooperation with the German supplier, the company had never expected a Chinese enterprise to surpass it so significantly in both core performance and overall cost-effectiveness. “The stability and value proposition of Shouxin’s products have exceeded our expectations,” the representative added.

Such international recognition is the result of Shouxin’s 18 years of dedication to technological innovation and product quality. Behind its success lies a strong technological foundation built through high-level research collaboration between Chinese and American academicians. The company maintains long-term partnerships with leading scientific teams, including those led by Academician Shen Yinchu of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Academician Phil S. Baran of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. Their expertise has provided critical support for breakthroughs in formulation stability and product performance.

At the same time, Shouxin has established its own in-house R&D team, focusing on formulation stability, performance optimization, and application-specific adaptation. Today, the company holds multiple core invention patents and has participated in drafting both industry and national standards. In 2025, Shouxin was recognized among the “Top 100 Enterprises” at China IE Expo, competing alongside international industry leaders. It also received the “Exclusive Brand Award for China Polyacrylamide Industry: Decade-Long Quality Stability (2015-2025),” becoming the only Chinese domestic enterprise to earn this distinction.

Notably, Shouxin’s international breakthrough comes at a critical stage in China’s pursuit of its dual-carbon goals and high-quality economic development, serving as a vivid example of the transformation from “Made in China” to “Intelligent Manufacturing from China.” Over the past three years, the company has continued to increase investment in environmental technology research and development, using innovation to drive industrial upgrading.

From once relying on imported technologies to now breaking international monopolies through independent innovation, Shouxin’s journey highlights the multiplier effect of technological advancement on the real economy. Chinese environmental technology companies are gradually gaining a stronger voice in global industrial chains, evolving from followers of international standards into active contributors to their development.

Industry experts note that Shouxin’s path — from competing on price to creating value, and from deep domestic cultivation to global expansion — illustrates how Chinese environmental enterprises can unlock international markets through technological innovation. Its experience offers a valuable roadmap for other private companies seeking to expand overseas: build core competitiveness through innovation, earn international trust through consistent quality, and establish a firm foothold in the global marketplace.

Media Contact

Zhang Bao
info@shouxinpam.com

On June 12, 2026, the 8th BAAI Conference officially commenced at the Zhongguancun (ZGC) International Innovation Center. Hosted by the Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence (BAAI), a world-leading non-profit AI research institute, this conference has evolved into one of the world’s premier academic conferences in artificial intelligence. Every June, the world’s leading academics gather in Beijing to discuss the latest advances in technology. This year’s conference achieved an unprecedented scale, drawing more than 10,000 on-site participants and over 5 million online viewers. As of its 8th edition, the BAAI Conference has hosted 14 Turing Award laureates. Sam Altman is also among the distinguished guests who have delivered keynote addresses at the summit.

It is widely recognized for its emphasis on cutting-edge technologies, global vision and the cultivation of emerging talents. The conference convenes researchers, industry executives and young scientists across the globe to present The latest research breakthroughs, delve into cutting-edge theories academic theories and share industry insights.

This year's conference features an unprecedented gathering of leading AI researchers. Whitfield Diffie, Turing Award laureate and pioneer of modern public-key cryptography, attended in person to discuss security and trust challenges in the emerging Agent era. Andrew Barto, Turing Award laureate and one of the pioneers of reinforcement learning, explored the implications of interaction-driven intelligence for the next generation of AI systems.

More than 200 leading scholars, over 40 AI company CEOs, founders and chief scientists, and more than 30 young scientists under the age of 30 have gathered in Beijing. For the first time, many of China's most influential innovators in world models and AI agents are appearing together on a single stage.

The conference also brings together thousands of prominent researchers from across the global AI community to engage in discussions on world models, general-purpose AI agents, embodied intelligence, AI safety, AI-native education, the token economy and OPC, as well as next-generation intelligent computing architectures.

The opening ceremony was chaired by Huang Tiejun, Chairman of the BAAI Board of Directors.

Wang Zhongyuan, President of BAAI, delivered the institute's "2026 Research Progress Report," presenting the latest advances in foundation models, AI agents, foundational software and hardware ecosystems, as well as updates on BAAI's open-source initiatives.

Since its establishment in 2018, BAAI has released the WuDao series of foundation models and the WuJie family of world models, building a comprehensive open-source technology ecosystem for large AI models from the ground up. From the early stages of foundation model development to today's emerging era of embodied AI, BAAI has remained at the forefront of AI research and innovation.

To date, BAAI has open-sourced more than 200 AI models, with cumulative global downloads exceeding one billion. The institute has also incubated a number of startups in both large-model and embodied AI sectors.

At the 2024 BAAI Conference, the institute outlined its vision for the evolution of artificial intelligence, particularly foundation models. Today, AI is rapidly advancing from large language models to multimodal models and further toward world models, accelerating the transition from the digital world into the physical world.

Over the past year, BAAI has achieved significant research breakthroughs in foundation models, AI agents, and foundational software and hardware ecosystems. Drawing on its exploration of multimodal and world models, the institute presented a systematic review of the development of world-model technologies, and introduced a four-category framework for understanding existing world-model architectures. Research on WuJie·Emu3, a native multimodal world model, was published in Nature in January 2026. BAAI also released an AI-ready neuroscience dataset and the data platform BrainToken alongside WuJie·Brainμ 1.0. WuJie·Brainμ stands as the world’s first unified multimodal neuroscience large model capable of synchronous comprehension and generation, constructing a universal multimodal neuroscience foundational base grounded in world-model technologies. The joint technical achievement, co-developed by BAAI and Tsinghua University, was published in Science.

During the opening ceremony, Whitfield Diffie and Andrew Barto each delivered keynote speeches addressing critical challenges and opportunities in the future of AI.

A featured live podcast titled "A Decade Ahead of the Curve" brought together Huang Tiejun and Wang Jian, Founder of Alibaba Cloud and Director of Zhijiang Lab. The panel explored the evolution of artificial intelligence paradigms and dissected how foundation models elevate systemic architecture development capabilities and advance paradigm innovation. It also addressed key challenges, including limitations in internet-scale text data.

As AI enters the agent era, the speakers discussed the profound opportunities and risks associated with large-scale deployment of autonomous intelligent agents in the real world. They also shared long-term perspectives on the evolving relationship between humans and AI, and on how human civilization and AI systems may coexist in the future.

In the roundtable session titled "Reshape the World: A Summit Dialogue on Foundation Models," Wang Zhongyuan joined leading AI researchers and industry pioneers, including Zhu Jun, Professor at the Department of Computer Science and Technology of Tsinghua University; Luo Fuli, Head of Xiaomi's MiMo Project; Liu Zhiyuan, Professor at Tsinghua University; and Bo An, Presidential Chair Professor and Dean of the College of Computing and Data Science at Nanyang Technological University.

The panel explored the evolution of advanced foundation model capabilities, AI RSI (recursive self improvement), multimodal intelligence, and world models, examining how AI is moving beyond digital environments and increasingly interacting with the physical world.

Participants agreed that increasingly capable foundation models and agent systems are opening new possibilities, while self-evolving AI may become a catalyst for future advances in AI. The rapid maturation of multimodal and world-model technologies is expected to accelerate AI's transition from digital spaces into real-world applications. They also emphasized the importance of creating broader opportunities for young researchers to participate in shaping the future of AI.

BAAI continues to strengthen the foundations of global AI innovation through academic breakthroughs, ecosystem development, startup incubation, and comprehensive open-source initiatives.

Media Contact

Yang Xiyang
xyyang01@baai.ac.cn

The global gold market, valued at an estimated $35 trillion in 2026, has long presented a paradox: a vast store of wealth, yet largely stagnant. Until now. Arizona-based Monetary Metals, founded by CEO Keith Weiner in 2012, is disrupting this historical norm by transforming gold from a passive asset into a dynamic, yield-generating investment.

“For too long, gold has been sitting completely idle, unable to earn a yield,” explains Weiner. “Our team is pioneering a new capital market where gold itself, not just fiat currency, generates returns. As people increasingly turn to gold amidst concerns about paper currencies, we provide a mechanism to put this asset to productive use,” says Weiner.  

Previously, investors were only able to buy and sell gold for dollar gains. Monetary Metals provides two fixed-income options for gold and silver: leases and bonds. This is made possible through a marketplace platform that allows owners to lend their precious metals to qualified industry businesses like jewelry manufacturers or gold refiners in exchange for a return paid in more ounces of metal. Investors retain ownership while still gaining compound interest in the form of gold or silver.

Going for Gold 

As leaders in this new market, Weiner and his team can provide clients with opportunities of great value. They are currently paying 3.96% on gold, paid in gold, annually. This may not seem like much, but over time, the compounding yield adds up. For example, if a client had owned 100 ounces of gold with Monetary Metals over a 10-year period beginning in January, 2016, that client would have over 147 ounces of gold, worth $721,386, compared to 95.11 ounces ($465,303) of gold in storage, or 96.07 ounces in GLD ($470,000). (See historical analysis disclosure below.)

Named on Inc. 5000’s 2025 list of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies, Monetary Metals is gearing up for massive expansion. Soon, Weiner predicts the company will grow by an additional 600% from its current 192,000 ounces of gold under management. “We’re attracting gold at faster and faster rates,” says Weiner. “We’ve been doubling every year, and I expect that to increase. This market has real legs. And in the next three to five years, our approach will be a well-known, obvious path on how to earn with gold.” 

The Golden Hippocratic Oath

Central to Monetary Metals’ growth and ongoing success is its unwavering commitment to protecting investor assets, encapsulated in its Golden Hippocratic Oath: “Above all else, we strive to lose no gold.” 

When handling investors’ gold, the team at Monetary Metals takes a layered approach to minimizing risk. For leases, clients’ gold remains in their name, and ownership is never transferred to Monetary Metals or a third party. Various types of insurance coverage, including shipping insurance, vault insurance, and lease insurance, are included. 

Monetary Metals isn’t just defining a new capital market; this Arizona-headquartered innovator is shaping the future of finance, demonstrating how an ancient asset can be productive and thrive in a modern economy. 

“Everyone should be able to save and finance business in gold,” says Weiner. “We argue that the need for compounded interest is a universal human need. There’s a steep opportunity cost for anybody who doesn’t have that access. Part of our mission is to provide access to this new market for yield on gold to anyone who wants it, globally.”

About Monetary Metals

Monetary Metals delivers a yield on gold, paid in gold, via its Gold Yield Marketplace™ platform, by offering gold-denominated financing to qualified companies in the precious metals industry. Through its gold leases and gold bonds, investors and institutions worldwide earn a yield on gold and silver every month, compounding their holdings over time with no storage fees. For more information, visit www.monetary-metals.com.

Disclaimer

This release is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment, legal, or tax advice, or an offer to buy or sell any security or financial product. Past performance is not indicative of future results. All investments involve risk, including the possible loss of principal. Any forward-looking statements, projections, or hypothetical analyses are based on current assumptions and are subject to change.

The provided historical analysis is hypothetical only and not an indicator of future returns. The analysis uses the monthly gold price from January 1, 2016, to January 1, 2026, the current weighted average annual yield of 3.96% at Monetary Metals (income paid monthly), an annual vault storage rate of 0.50%, and an annual expense ratio of 0.40% for GLD. 

Media Contact

Hillary Bowling
hbowling@monetary-metals.com

Greg B. Holland, President of Pacific NW Marble & Granite, has announced expanded operations with a new 65,000-square-foot fabrication facility designed to support growing national demand while addressing evolving safety standards in the stone industry. The move marks a strategic shift for the company, which has long been focused on wholesale contracts and large-scale projects but is now positioned for broader market visibility and future retail growth.

The expansion reflects nearly two decades of steady growth under Holland’s leadership, as well as a business philosophy centered on scalability, workforce safety and long-term client relationships. Through the expansion of Pacific NW Marble & Granite, Holland hopes the company will gain more retail customers, as its current clientele is primarily wholesale businesses. 

The Development of Pacific NW Marble and Granite

Holland was 22 years old when he founded Pacific NW Marble & Granite in 2006. He began with a modest 2,000-square-foot shop and, over the past 19 years, has successfully steered the company’s expansion, transforming it into one of the largest stone fabrication and installation businesses in the United States. 

The company now operates across Oregon and much of Washington State, holding licenses in Montana, Utah, Washington and Oregon. His portfolio of companies includes PNW Group LLC, Baptista Stone in Bend, Oregon; and Budget Rooter Plumbing Service.

Before establishing Pacific NW Marble & Granite, Holland completed coursework in engineering at Oregon State University. Beginning his professional career as a countertop fabricator, he held this role for three years before launching his own venture. He is a member of the Natural Stone Institute (formerly the Marble Institute of America) and previously served on the board of the McNary Gold Club in Keizer, Oregon.

Holland’s professional responsibilities include overseeing daily operations, invoicing, billing, pricing points and contracts, as well as collaborating with the commercial division on bid reviews. Throughout his career, he has credited his success to a philosophy of good timing and the ability to build strong professional relationships. His approach to business is simple and informs his company’s motto: “Never say no.” It reflects his commitment to tackling complex projects, despite the challenge. 

Emerging as an Industry Leader

Holland’s focus on ethical and, above all, safe business practices has helped Pacific NW Marble & Granite emerge as an industry leader in his region. The company’s fabrication shop is designed for 100% wet cutting to eliminate employee exposure to silica, which can lead to silicosis, an incurable and potentially fatal lung disease, as well as other serious respiratory illnesses. 

This is a significant industry development that tackles a number of safety and compliance issues. The facility also features a fully recycled water system, and the company conducts its own silica testing to ensure it complies with OSHA requirements.

Holland’s work has been recognized in trade publications, with a feature in Stone World magazine. He finds satisfaction in cultivating a work environment where his employees can develop and improve their lives, believing that their growth strengthens the company and its ability to better serve customers.

As Pacific NW Marble & Granite expands its capabilities and reach, Holland remains focused on sustainable growth and operational excellence. He looks forward to delivering reliable, high-quality service to clients across the region and beyond. Holland, along with his wife Brittnie, looks forward to creating a long-lasting legacy for their children, Teagan and Everett.

About Pacific NW Marble & Granite

Founded in 2006, Pacific NW Marble & Granite is one of the largest stone fabrication and installation companies in the country, offering primarily custom granite and quartz. The company operates throughout Oregon and much of Washington and is also licensed to work in Montana and Utah. It is committed to delivering the finest materials, workmanship and personal attention to the residential homeowners and general contractors it serves.

About Marquis Who's Who

Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the first edition of Who’s Who in America®, Marquis Who’s Who® has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Who’s Who in America® remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms worldwide. The suite of Marquis® publications can be viewed at the official Marquis Who’s Who® website, marquiswhoswho.com.

Media Contact

Marquis Who’s Who
info@marquiswhoswho.com

Trenez, a leading Oracle business partner with decades of experience serving the homebuilding, land development, real estate management, projects and service, and financials industries, today announced a strategic partnership with MakeInfinite Labs, the research and development firm that builds verifiable data infrastructure for some of the most demanding data environments in the world. 

Enterprises modernizing decades-old systems struggle to store, trust and move data in real time across platforms that were never built to work together. Closing that gap requires two things most firms can't offer together: data and AI engineering built to perform under real load, and people with deep expertise of the systems it has to connect to. The partnership between Trenez and MakeInfinite Labs brings both. 

MakeInfinite Labs brings engineering credentials earned at the frontier of data and AI infrastructure. The firm originally developed Space and Time, the verifiable data platform backed by M12, Microsoft's Venture Fund. The team also invented Proof of SQL, a patented method for cryptographically verifying data, now integrated in Google BigQuery and powering verifiable data across institutional finance and AI. In 2025, MakeInfinite Labs integrated Space and Time's blockchain data with Microsoft Fabric, putting trusted, real-time data directly inside the Azure ecosystem. The same team and the same standard of engineering sit behind the Azure delivery in this partnership. 

Under the partnership, Trenez will provide overall engagement leadership and accountability, enterprise and integration architecture ownership, industry expertise and domain translation, Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne alignment, downstream business integration, program governance, roadmap alignment, and client enablement. 

"Enterprise modernization is no longer just a technical initiative," said Chad Holewinski, CEO of Trenez. "Our clients need partners who understand their business, their ecosystem, their data, and the cloud platforms that will support their future growth. With MakeInfinite Labs, we are bringing our clients engineering of a caliber that most enterprises rarely get access to, applied directly to their modernization roadmap." 

The two firms will operate as strategic partners under a single delivery model. Trenez leads engagement strategy, enterprise and integration architecture, downstream business integration, program governance, and client enablement. MakeInfinite Labs delivers Azure Integration Services implementation, Data Hub architecture, ETL and ELT engineering, real-time data pipelines, API infrastructure and Azure API Management, DevOps automation, observability, performance optimization, and Azure cost optimization. 

"Enterprise modernization succeeds when the right expertise comes together under accountable teams," said Nate Holiday, CEO of MakeInfinite Labs. "Pairing our world-class data engineering team with Trenez's industry depth lets us modernize clients' data infrastructure as one effort, with no gaps between the architecture and the systems it has to serve."

About MakeInfinite Labs

MakeInfinite Labs is a frontier protocol research lab contributing to some of the most prominent protocols and ecosystems, including the creation of Space and Time. MakeInfinite Labs raised $50 million from Microsoft’s M12 Ventures and other leading investors to build the infrastructure that enables developers and creators to build data-driven applications, tokenize and monetize and win in the AI economy. For more information, visit www.makeinfinite.com.

About Trenez

Trenez is a leading Oracle business partner with decades of experience helping clients modernize, optimize, and extend Oracle EnterpriseOne and related enterprise systems. The firm serves clients across homebuilding, land development, real estate management, projects and services, and financials industries, bringing deep industry knowledge, enterprise architecture experience, and practical delivery leadership to complex transformation initiatives. For more information, visit www.trenez.com and follow on LinkedIn.

Media Contact

Catherine Daly
marketing@makeinfinite.com

At the 17th AUTOSAR Open Conference (AOC) in Shanghai, iSOFT (iSOFT Infrastructure Software Co., Ltd.) contributed its self-developed intelligent driving operating system as the global code baseline for AUTOSAR's Common Adaptive Platform Implementation (CAPI) — a notable milestone in the evolution of the global smart vehicle industry.

"This is a paradigm shift from 'standard-first' to 'code-first,' responding to new industrial demands of the intelligent connected era," said Liu Hongqian, General Manager of iSOFT. "Open source enables collaboration but must meet automotive-grade safety and performance requirements. iSOFT was the first to open-source EasyXMen, and CAPI reinforces our commitment. As the first international code standard baseline from a Chinese enterprise, this is Chinese wisdom going global. CAPI lets global enterprises develop on one codebase, significantly reducing adaptation costs."

Joachim Langenwalter, AUTOSAR spokesperson, underscored China's lead: "China is the world's largest automotive market at 30 million vehicles annually. Other countries are keeping a close eye on Chinese-developed technology. iSOFT leveraged 'China speed' to establish CAPI's foundation, allowing specifications and code to evolve in lockstep with shortened feedback cycles. AUTOSAR transcends geopolitical boundaries; this unified codebase will be used worldwide."

Patrick Will, Head of SW Product Marketing and Management at Infineon, noted the accelerating transformation: "The open-source shift is accelerating and automotive mindsets are changing. iSOFT and Infineon are aligned in a shared vision: to streamline software development processes. Our DRIVECORE platform integrates iSOFT middleware with Infineon software and hardware layers, enabling customers to kick off their projects swiftly without encountering licensing barriers. 'China-for-China' development is increasingly essential, yet global collaboration matters — walls make no sense."

Yu Peng, XPENG Motors Technical Center GM, explained CAPI's value: "It delivers three key benefits for OEMs: reduced redundant costs, enhanced supply chain security, and accelerated ecosystem collaboration. CAPI solves the structural tension where foundational software moves too slowly while upper layers iterate in weeks. It provides a 'common foundation' for chip vendors, software suppliers, and automakers to co-develop on the same baseline. China's mass-production practices now feed back into global standards while global standards better serve China."

With 25 million-plus units deployed across 300-plus vehicle models, iSOFT's OS brings production-proven middleware to the global stage through CAPI's open, collaborative framework for the software-defined vehicle era. Learn more at www.autosar.org/capi.

Media Contact

Susan Yang
marketing@i-soft.com.cn

Andreozzi + Foote, a nationally recognized law firm representing survivors of sexual abuse, has partnered with Rhode Island attorney Eric B. DiMario of Kiernan, Plunkett & Redihan, LLP, to represent survivors pursuing claims under Rhode Island's newly enacted childhood sexual abuse revival-window legislation.

In a landmark victory for survivors, Rhode Island has opened a two-year revival window that allows victims of childhood sexual abuse to file civil lawsuits that were previously barred by the state's statute of limitations.

The new law, which takes effect on July 1, 2026, gives eligible survivors until June 30, 2028, to pursue claims against institutions and organizations that knew about, concealed, or failed to prevent sexual abuse. For many Rhode Island survivors of childhood sexual abuse, this may be the first meaningful opportunity in decades to seek accountability through the civil justice system.

The legislation follows the release of Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha's landmark report detailing decades of alleged clergy sexual abuse and institutional failures within the Diocese of Providence. The more than 200-page report documented allegations involving more than 300 victims, included summaries of 72 clergy members determined to have been credibly accused of child sexual misconduct, and identified numerous instances in which abuse allegations were not reported to law enforcement and accused clergy remained in ministry.

While the Attorney General's investigation focused on clergy abuse, the revival window applies broadly to survivors of childhood sexual abuse and will allow claims involving other religious institutions, schools, youth-serving organizations, healthcare providers, and other entities entrusted with the care of children.

"Sexual abuse cases are rarely just about the actions of one individual," Ben Andreozzi, Partner, Andreozzi + Foote, said. "Time and again, we uncover institutional failures that enabled abuse or allowed it to continue unchecked. Our mission is to help survivors pursue accountability, expose institutional failures, and create meaningful change that protects others from suffering the same harm."

Andreozzi added, "For many survivors, the passage of time has been one of the greatest barriers to justice. Rhode Island's revival window recognizes the reality that childhood sexual abuse trauma often takes years or even decades to process. This law gives survivors an opportunity to have their voices heard and to hold institutions accountable for the role they may have played in allowing abuse to occur."

DiMario has long advocated for expanding survivors' access to the civil justice system in Rhode Island. In February 2019, he testified before the Rhode Island House of Representatives in support of earlier legislation aimed at extending survivors' legal rights.

"If this bill becomes law, it will unlock the doors of the civil justice system for many survivors of childhood sexual abuse who have found those doors closed for far too long," DiMario testified.

The revival window will allow courts to hear claims based on their merits rather than dismissing them solely because of the passage of time. Survivors are encouraged to reach out to an attorney to learn about their legal options as soon as possible.

About Andreozzi + Foote

Andreozzi + Foote is one of the nation’s leading sexual abuse law firms with a history of representing survivors in cases against large and powerful organizations, including Penn State University, the Boy Scouts of America, and the Catholic Church. The trauma-informed Pennsylvania-based sexual abuse lawyers at Andreozzi + Foote are committed to obtaining life-changing results for victims and their families. For more information, visit www.victimscivilattorneys.com.

Media Contact

Maria Smith
Andreozzi + Foote
marias@vca.law
+1 717-807-5808

TrueData Solutions LLC today announced the expansion of its private network infrastructure operations into Europe as part of the company’s continued investment in global connectivity and routing capabilities.

As part of the expansion, TrueData Solutions has obtained a new Autonomous System Number (ASN) through RIPE NCC, AS209827, enabling the company to independently manage internet routing policies and deploy dedicated network infrastructure throughout European regions.

The deployment is intended to strengthen the company’s private network backbone while improving redundancy, resiliency, and routing efficiency for customers operating across international environments.

Initial European interconnection points are expected to include major internet exchange and carrier hubs in Frankfurt and Amsterdam, supporting lower-latency connectivity and improved regional traffic optimization.

“Establishing an ASN presence through RIPE represents an important step in expanding our infrastructure internationally,” said Del Andujar, CEO of TrueData Solutions. “This expansion provides greater operational control over our network environment and allows us to deliver faster, more resilient, and more reliable connectivity services for clients operating across multiple regions.”

The company said the European expansion is designed to support increasing demand for dedicated networking infrastructure, secure enterprise connectivity, and distributed system deployments requiring high availability and cross-border performance consistency.

About TrueData Solutions

TrueData Solutions LLC provides private networking infrastructure, secure connectivity services, and enterprise-grade routing solutions designed to support modern distributed systems, secure communications, and high-availability environments. For more information, visit truedata.broker.

Disclaimer

This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding anticipated network expansion, infrastructure deployment, operational capabilities, and future business activities of TrueData Solutions LLC. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions and are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those described. Planned deployments, interconnection arrangements, and service enhancements may change or be delayed due to technical, regulatory, operational, or commercial considerations. TrueData Solutions LLC undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements except as required by law.

Media Contact

Del Andujar
TrueData Solutions
press@truedata.broker
+1 833-878-3053

In her new book, "The Father Who Shielded and Never Left," published March 27, author and strategist Fari Sonita examines Cambodia’s transformation from a nation scarred by conflict into one characterized by stability, growth, and increasing international engagement.

For decades, global perceptions of Cambodia were often shaped through the narrow lens of its historical tragedies. However, Sonita's new work examines the international conversation by analyzing the nation's painful past and its remarkable modern-day transformation and resilience.

At the heart of this narrative is the leadership journey of Samdech Techo Hun Sen. The book explores how his “Win-Win” philosophy and long-standing commitment to national unity became the foundation for one of Southeast Asia’s most stable and steadily growing nations. By silencing the guns of conflict and prioritizing peace above all else, Cambodia was able to move from a post-war era toward a new chapter of development, investment, and international confidence.

More than a historical account, the book serves as a strategic case study for global leaders, policymakers, investors, and readers seeking to understand how peace and stability can transform a nation. Through the author’s perspective, readers discover the soft power of Cambodia — a unique combination of cultural resilience, strategic diplomacy, national unity, and a pro-growth environment that continues attracting international attention and investment.

“While many only know Cambodia for its dark history, this book reveals the nation’s true potential and offers invaluable lessons in leadership,” says the author. “Cambodia’s journey proves that a nation can rise from destruction into stability, dignity, and growth when peace becomes the highest priority. This story is not only about the past — it is about the future that Cambodia continues building today.”

As the world navigates an era of uncertainty and geopolitical tension, Cambodia’s transformation offers a rare example of recovery, reconciliation, and long-term stability. By documenting the journey of the “Father Who Shielded and Never Left,” the book presents a deeper understanding of the leadership, sacrifices, and strategic decisions that helped protect the nation and create an environment where development, tourism, infrastructure, and investment could steadily flourish.

The publication is aimed at global leaders, policymakers, and researchers who wish to understand the spirit of a rising nation and the leadership principles that continue guiding Cambodia toward its Vision 2050 ambitions. More importantly, it invites the world to look beyond old headlines and discover a modern Cambodia emerging as one of ASEAN’s most promising and resilient nations.

About Fari Sonita

Fari Sonita is an author and independent researcher born in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. She writes about the lives of extraordinary individuals, people whose journeys carry lessons of courage, leadership, sacrifice, and responsibility. Her work examines the decisions, struggles, and inner strength of those who shaped nations or quietly carried a weight that others can learn from.

Media Contact

Fari Sonita
info@farisonita.com

Zoyk has officially launched a strategic partnership with Visa through Visa Direct to introduce a new interoperable digital payment solution designed to transform money movement across Zambia and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.

The announcement was made during an official launch event attended by fintech leaders, government representatives, payment infrastructure experts, and regional stakeholders focused on accelerating digital financial inclusion and regional interoperability. The partnership marks a significant milestone in Zambia’s evolving digital economy, bringing together global payment infrastructure and locally built fintech capabilities to support faster, more secure, and more accessible financial services across the region.

The newly launched Zoyk Visa Direct Account and Wallet Partnership integrates Visa Direct capabilities with mobile money platforms, bank accounts, merchant wallets, agent networks, and Visa cards into a unified digital ecosystem. The platform is designed to simplify person-to-person payments, merchant transactions, wallet interoperability, and cross-border money movement while supporting SMEs, enterprises, traders, and underserved communities with improved access to digital financial services.

The launch event was opened by Program Director Makondo Mukando, who introduced a distinguished lineup of speakers addressing the broader significance of the partnership for Zambia’s financial ecosystem and regional digital transformation agenda.

Chembo Sumbwe, co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer at Zoyk, described the partnership as a major step forward in building an inclusive financial infrastructure capable of connecting fragmented payment systems into a seamless digital environment.

“This partnership represents a significant milestone in expanding interoperable financial infrastructure across Zambia and the region,” said Sumbwe. “By connecting wallets, bank accounts, mobile money services, merchant ecosystems, and Visa Direct capabilities, we are creating a framework that allows businesses and consumers to move money more efficiently, securely, and confidently.”

Clive Nabale, co-founder and CEO of Zoyk, emphasized that the company’s long-term vision extends beyond payments toward enabling broader regional digital integration.

“Our vision is to build interoperable payment rails that support financial inclusion, regional trade, and Zambia’s broader digital transformation agenda,” Nabale said. “We believe infrastructure plays a critical role in unlocking long-term economic participation across both urban and underserved communities.”

The platform is expected to enable real-time transactions and seamless digital payment experiences through multiple access channels, including mobile applications, USSD functionality, agent-assisted services, merchant payment systems, and digital wallets. By combining local fintech infrastructure with Visa’s global payment network, the partnership aims to strengthen cross-border transaction capabilities throughout the SADC region while improving operational efficiency for businesses and consumers alike.

Salome Makau, Head of Cluster for Central Southern Africa at Visa, highlighted the importance of combining international payment systems with locally embedded digital ecosystems to support sustainable regional growth.

“Digital interoperability is becoming increasingly important for Africa’s financial future,” Makau said during the launch event. “Partnerships that combine global infrastructure with localized innovation create stronger opportunities for financial inclusion, regional connectivity, and scalable economic participation.”

Viveka Govender, Head of Visa Direct South East Africa, added that the collaboration reflects Visa’s broader commitment to supporting secure and efficient digital commerce across the continent.

“This collaboration reflects our commitment to enabling secure, fast, and reliable payment solutions that improve financial inclusion and support cross-border commerce throughout Africa,” Govender said.

The event also featured a keynote address from Percy Chinyama, National Coordinator at the SMART Zambia E-Government Division, who spoke about the role of interoperable digital infrastructure in supporting Zambia’s national digital transformation priorities. According to the company, the platform has been developed in alignment with Bank of Zambia regulatory requirements and international payment security standards. The infrastructure includes integrated fraud management systems, KYC verification processes, transaction monitoring capabilities, and consumer protection measures designed to ensure safe and compliant digital financial services.

As digital adoption accelerates across Southern Africa, the partnership positions Zoyk as an emerging regional financial infrastructure provider focused on enabling long-term cashless ecosystem development and regional interoperability. The initiative also reflects broader momentum across Africa’s fintech sector, where governments, payment providers, and infrastructure companies are increasingly prioritizing connected financial ecosystems capable of supporting both domestic and cross-border digital commerce.

For Zoyk, the launch represents the beginning of a larger mission to strengthen digital accessibility and financial participation across the region. Now the focus shifts toward making Zambia’s financial system more accessible, secure, and fully digital.

About Zoyk

Zoyk is a Zambia-based fintech company and a portfolio company of Velex Investments, building interoperable digital financial infrastructure for consumers, businesses, and institutions across Africa. Through integrated payment solutions that connect mobile money, bank accounts, wallets, agent networks, and global payment systems, Zoyk enables secure, accessible, and inclusive financial services. The company is focused on advancing financial inclusion, strengthening regional connectivity, and accelerating digital transformation across Zambia and the broader SADC region. For more information, visit zoyk.co.zm.

Media Contact

Chembo Sumbwe
chembo.sumbwe@zoykgroup.com

Milkinside founder Gleb Kuznetsov joined industry leaders at the 10th anniversary edition of Digital Design Days (DDD) in Milan, where he spoke about the role of human taste, judgment, and creative leadership as artificial intelligence continues to reshape design and digital product development.

Founded and curated by Filippo Spiezia, DDD has grown over the past decade from an independent design gathering into an international platform for conversations about creativity, technology, branding, product design, and the future of digital experiences. Before founding DDD, Spiezia built an award-winning design career that included years in the United States, working between San Francisco and Portland, Oregon, with the renowned experience design studio Second Story. That background has helped shape the event’s distinctive curation and global network, attracting leading speakers, major brands, and creative professionals from around the world.

Now in its tenth year, DDD has engaged more than 240,000 participants worldwide across its in-person and online editions. Its latest event welcomed more than 3,500 attendees from 48 countries, and Google has cited DDD as one of the three most authoritative events in its field.

Across three days of talks, workshops, and conversations, one concern kept returning: AI is not only making creative production faster. It is making polished mediocrity easier to ship. That is why the strongest conversation in Milan was not about tools. It was about taste.

For Kuznetsov, one of the event’s standout speakers, the message was clear: AI has not made taste less important. It has made the value of taste visible.

The 2026 edition arrived at a time when artificial intelligence is transforming how products, brands, and digital experiences are created. Across talks, panels, and discussions, recurring themes included creativity, craft, technology, burnout, business transformation, and the future role of human judgment in an increasingly automated world.

Speakers approached those themes from different angles, with Stefan Sagmeister emphasizing beauty and craft, Marina Willer bringing a brand and identity perspective, Wesley ter Haar addressing AI’s impact on creative operations, and Kuznetsov focusing on taste and judgment as increasingly important forms of design leadership.

Before Apple challenged the category, personal computers were largely accepted as gray, functional boxes. Apple refused that standard and made technology feel personal, emotional, and desirable. With AI technology, design leadership faces this same challenge today.

Kuznetsov drew parallels to earlier moments in technology history. Before companies such as Apple challenged prevailing assumptions about personal computers, the market largely accepted functional but uninspiring products as the norm. In his view, designers face a similar responsibility today: not simply accepting what AI can generate, but determining what deserves to exist and what should be rejected.

The significance of these discussions extended beyond the design profession itself. Agencies are rethinking workflows, brands are reassessing differentiation strategies, founders can now generate products faster than ever before, and creative teams are navigating uncertainty about how AI will reshape their roles. DDD provided a forum for addressing not only the opportunities created by AI, but also the business, cultural, and human questions emerging alongside it.

An Emerging Role for Modern Designers

One of the themes that emerged repeatedly throughout DDD was that the role of designers is evolving rather than disappearing. Speakers explored how creative professionals are increasingly becoming curators, directors, and decision-makers who shape outcomes rather than simply execute them. Kuznetsov’s keynote offered one of the clearest articulations of that shift.

At the intersection of AI and creativity, designers are moving from makers to maker-directors. They are not losing the ability to make. They are gaining a bigger responsibility: directing tools, shaping outcomes, and deciding what deserves to exist.

For Kuznetsov, this is where taste and judgment become most valuable. As AI makes production faster and more accessible, the ability to discern quality, make decisions, and define what is worth creating may play an increasingly important role in the future of product design.

Positioned in this context, a designer does not need to view AI technology as some kind of threat. With this new perspective, it will be a lack of human craft in AI that should be avoided. To this end, the existence of AI design may be understood as a force multiplier. Designers are not competing with AI on speed alone, but on judgment, empathy, memory, cultural awareness, and the ability to distinguish between what is generated for its own sake and what may be felt on a human level.

“We did not become designers to ship the average,” Kuznetsov stated. “AI can generate the average faster than any human. Our job is to bring memory, empathy, friction, history, and taste into the work. That is the human layer machines cannot replace.”

This perspective resonated with one of the event’s broader themes: as AI makes the production of “good enough” outputs easier and faster, competitive advantage may increasingly come from taste, judgment, differentiation, and the ability to create experiences that connect with people on a deeper level. Several speakers explored how these human qualities could become more valuable, not less, as generative technologies continue to mature. 

A Turning Point for the Creative Industry

The 10th anniversary edition of Digital Design Days was more than a milestone event. It reflected an industry grappling with fundamental questions about creativity, productivity, technology, and the future of work.

While AI remained a dominant topic throughout the program, the conversation in Milan ultimately centered on human value: the role of judgment, the importance of taste, and the responsibility of creative leaders to shape outcomes rather than simply accelerate production.

As one of the standout voices at the event, Kuznetsov contributed to that discussion by arguing that AI has not diminished the importance of human creativity. Instead, it has made the value of human judgment more visible.

For many attendees, that idea captured the broader message of DDD 2026: the future of design is not becoming less human. It is becoming more human.

Spiezia’s role as founder and curator has become central to the event’s identity, giving DDD a point of view that is shaped by design culture rather than by a conventional conference model. Following its 10th-anniversary edition, Digital Design Days is positioned to continue serving as an independent international platform for discussions on AI, creativity, design leadership, and the future of creative work.

About Milkinside

Milkinside is a San Francisco-based design agency that focuses on creating innovative product design, interactions, branding, and motion design. Founded in 2011 by Gleb Kuznetsov, the company takes digital products from idea to launch. For more information, visit milkinside.com.

At the 10th anniversary edition of Digital Design Days in Milan, Milkinside founder Gleb Kuznetsov delivered a standout keynote addressing how artificial intelligence is forcing the creative industry to prioritize human taste, judgment, and originality over automated volume.

Everyone is asking whether AI will replace designers. That may be the wrong question.

The real challenge is that AI has made average work infinite. Polished interfaces, competent visuals, and functional products can now be generated at unprecedented speed. As the cost of producing acceptable work approaches zero, the qualities that make creative work memorable—taste, judgment, originality, and the willingness to reject easy answers—are becoming more valuable, not less.

That tension sat at the center of discussions during the 10th anniversary edition of Digital Design Days (DDD) in Milan, where designers, technologists, founders, brand leaders, and creative executives gathered to examine how artificial intelligence is reshaping creativity, product development, and decision-making. 

For many attendees, DDD felt less like a conference and more like an early look at where the creative industry is heading. As AI rapidly lowers the cost of production, the conversation has shifted from what can be made to what is worth making.

One of the speakers at DDD was Gleb Kuznetsov, founder of Milkinside, whose keynote challenged a common assumption about AI: that technology reduces the importance of human creativity.

His argument became one of the event’s defining ideas: “AI did not make taste less important. It made the value of taste visible.”

Rather than diminishing human judgment, Kuznetsov argued, AI may be exposing its importance. When everyone can generate polished work, the ability to recognize what is original, meaningful, or culturally relevant becomes easier to see, and harder to replace.

Digital Design Days Marks a Turning Point for the Creative Industry

The 2026 edition of Digital Design Days represented more than a milestone anniversary. It arrived at a moment when creative industries are being forced to reconsider where value actually comes from.

Founded by Filippo Spiezia, Digital Design Days has evolved over the past decade into an international platform focused on design, creative technology, branding, motion, product thinking, and digital experience. 

Its reputation has been built on curation rather than scale, attracting practitioners who often encounter major shifts in design, technology, and culture before those shifts become mainstream industry conversations.

The 10th-anniversary edition brought together a global speaker lineup that included Stefan Sagmeister, Marina Willer, Wesley ter Haar, Emily Rickard, Robert Hodgin, Itay Schiff, and Gleb Kuznetsov, among many others. 

That range mattered. Sagmeister brought a long-term perspective on beauty, craft, and cultural value. Willer spoke from the experience of shaping brand identity at global scale. Ter Haar addressed the operational realities facing agencies as AI changes how creative work is produced. Kuznetsov focused on something different: the growing economic value of taste and judgment in a world where production is becoming abundant.

Rather than focusing solely on emerging tools, many conversations centered on larger questions about creativity, originality, business value, and the future role of human judgment in an era where AI can generate content, interfaces, code, and design concepts at unprecedented speed.

AI’s Impact on the World of Business

Across talks on design, branding, products, and innovation, a common question emerged: if everyone has access to increasingly powerful creative tools, where does differentiation come from?

One of the clearest answers came from Gleb Kuznetsov, founder of Milkinside: “AI did not make taste less important. It made the value of taste visible.” 

The statement resonated because it reframed the AI conversation. Much of the public debate focuses on whether AI can generate work. Kuznetsov's argument was that generation is becoming the easy part. Selection, judgment, and conviction remain difficult.

The shift is bigger than design alone. 

For founders, agencies, and brand leaders, the question increasingly becomes which ideas deserve investment, attention, and distribution. AI can generate more possibilities than ever before. Human judgment still determines which of those possibilities matter.

The Challenges of the Design Industry

For many attendees, the challenge is no longer whether AI will influence creative work, but how creative professionals can maintain originality, quality, and cultural relevance in an environment where generating polished outputs has become significantly easier. 

Kuznetsov argued that AI’s greatest impact may be its tendency toward the average. AI can generate endless variations, concepts, interfaces, and campaigns, but it cannot explain why one idea matters more than another. 

That observation connected with a broader concern running through the event. As production becomes easier, creative industries risk becoming more homogeneous. Distinction increasingly comes from perspective, taste, and the willingness to reject obvious answers.

These Issues Stretch Well Beyond AI

While AI has brought these issues of sameness to the forefront, it is far from being the cause of them. The industry has always adopted templates, frameworks, and dominant trends. Bootstrap, Material Design, Tailwind, SaaS templates, and startup design systems have already pushed digital products toward similarity. AI has simply accelerated this pattern and made it impossible to ignore.

What made the conversations at DDD notable was the recognition that this is not really an AI story. It is a cultural and economic story about what becomes valuable when production stops being scarce.

A Conversation Bigger Than One Speaker

While speakers approached the topic from different angles, DDD’s 10th-anniversary edition captured a broader industry realization: AI is raising the value of distinctly human judgment.

Kuznetsov’s keynote reflected that broader conversation. His argument that AI has made the value of taste more visible resonated with ongoing discussions about how designers are evolving from makers into directors of outcomes, helping determine not only what can be created, but what should be created.

Final Thoughts

The most memorable conversations at DDD were not about what AI can do. They were about what remains difficult to automate.

The takeaway that lingered long after the talks ended was Kuznetsov's observation that AI has made the value of taste visible. The easier creation becomes, the more obvious it becomes who can recognize quality, originality, and cultural relevance, and who cannot.

That idea gave DDD’s anniversary edition its sense of urgency. 

For many attendees, DDD felt like one of the first places where the implications of that shift were being discussed seriously. The event's significance was not that it asked whether AI would change creative work. It was that many of the industry's leading voices appeared to agree on what becomes valuable after that change has already happened.

About Milkinside

Milkinside is a San Francisco-based design agency that focuses on creating innovative product design, interactions, branding, and motion design. Founded in 2011 by Gleb Kuznetsov, the company takes digital products from idea to launch. For more information, visit milkinside.com.